There is high customer pressure at Folktandvården Seminariet in Uppsala. At the same time, rooms there are often empty as patients miss their booked visits, basically every day.
– It’s frustrating, because the time allocated could have been taken by someone else, says Christina Eklund Larsson, dental hygienist and operations manager.
Looking at the group of 18–23 year olds alone, the missed visits correspond to one and a half months a year when a team is idle at the clinic.
“Socio-economically worthless”
Despite the fact that dental care is free up to the age of 23, young people are overrepresented among those who miss scheduled dental appointments. According to Sweden’s Public Dental Association, it is a problem throughout the country. It is about large sums of money that clinics miss out on.
– We see the same trend across the country. Socioeconomically, it is worthless, says Gunilla Swanholm, chairman of Sweden’s Public Dental Association.
The 20-23-year-olds are mostly absent
The association has received responses from 15 of the country’s 21 public dental care organizations, all of which state problems with missed dental visits and that young people are overrepresented among those who do not attend. It is above all the elderly in the age range for free dental care who do not attend. In Region Örebro, for example, four percent of children and young people up to the age of 20 miss dental visits, while it is 37 percent in the 20 to 23-year-old group.
Want to lower the upper age limit for free dental care
The government wants to lower the age limit for free dental care to 19 years, from the year 2025. Gunilla Swanholm at Sweden’s Public Dental Care Association believes that a lower age limit would be good.
– Based on the fact that it is difficult to get enough resources in many places, I think it is a wise decision.
Isn’t there a risk that this group won’t go to the dentist at all then?
– It is clear that it does, but they have also not taken full advantage of the offer they have had now.